Hello everyone,
I recently toured a pharmaceutical plant and got to see the production areas where the products were made and purified. I noticed that all the reactions which took place occured between a solid and liquid but another liquid was used as a solvent phase. I was wondering why the reaction between a solid and liquid would require a solvent phase, since the solid could dissolve in the reagent liquid. If just the liquid and solid reactants were charged into the reactor, wouldn't the fact that a reaction is occuring trump effects such as mass transfer and solubility?
To my knowlege, none of the solid reactants were insoluble in the liquid reactant.
Thanks for your time,
J. Ari